Greetings all members. (new and old)
For me this is as much of a homecoming as a new start. 12 years ago I gave up on my 3rd Commander - a project 55' that nearly took me out lol not lol - and i moved away from the club. But, my dream of owning another Commander never went away, and as my kids grow up (now all in their 20s) I am feeling the Commander bug again and I'm back. It is exciting to be a part of the new Commander Club website and the next part of our journey.
Who is new? Who is an old member? Tell us your stories! Tbh I used to post non-stop years ago and I'm tipping my toe back in the water.
Please respond with your Commander Club story, how many years have you been a member, what brought you in? Are you new and looking for a boat?
Reply here and I look forward to hearing from you!
Whitney Pillsbury
Glad to rejoin the new website, thank you to those who worked so hard to bring the site to us! This is a great community providing an awsome resource for those who appreciate the great boats Chris Craft delivered. I look forward to sharing with others here the appreciation and challenges we encounter in keeping these boats ship shape.
Whitney, you two guys did a great thing raising those kids. Buy another sprrd boat like the XR19 you had. Regards, Willie and Lynn.
Whitney, you've been lurking but it's good to see you back with your many talents.
Our boating continues but as with everything it evolves. Your old SS has been fully restored to near original condition and is better than new. Just a stunning boat. Sadly for many reasons we only used it once last year and for the most part it is used occasionally over the summers. We sold our 35SC and I believe Thomas Sullivan who is in the club now owns it in the Detroit area. When we sold the 35 we bought a 47 in 2016 down in FL and brought it up the rivers in the spring of 2017 to Lake Michigan. Smooth move in high water but we wanted to get it home. Since then as you would think it has been repair, replace and upgrade every year since. It provides me with both anxiety and great joy. Heated, private storage is worth every extra $1k. I can only imagine your love/hate relationship with a 55. Hopefully someone made the investment to make it right again.
We sold our business last year and I officially retired last week. The goal is to leave Montague, MI and head to Northern Lake MI an Huron for the rest of the summer. We shall see.
Mike
P.S.
I bought a 10' GW Invader that is a full rebuild/resto with the plan to paint it like the SS and put a period 50 Merc on it. Guessing the boat is a late '60s model. Like I don't have enough to do. It's a sickness.
Mike, glad to see your post, I have fond memories of meeting you in Grafton IL on that trip with the 35 successor. Enjoy retirement!
Yes, the most important supply delivery we had. Beer.
Hi everyone! Wasn't on much before but spring is coming and I'm thinking of boating. I'm in the throes of installing Pex waterlines, new water heater, Airmar through hull transducer and temp gauge (20 degree), Raritan (probably) commode, five new batteries, and a custom V mattress. That should get me going :) On Lake Pend Oreille ... it'll be another few months (late April splash). '66 CCC 38'
HI Jon Welge!! Looking forward to you creating your own posts describing your upcoming projects. Great looking boat!!
Ok heres my go at reintroduction on this new site.......
Hello, my name is Jeremy Goldstein and Im a boat addict to the highest degree!
(especially the vintage stuff!)
Fixing , building, & restoring boats is my day job and for fun I work on boats!
Ive got a 35' 1968 Commander express model that Ive been very slowly restoring in my very limited free time.
For those of you that have been following its restoration story on the old website forum, I hope to be able to transfer it to this site and continue telling the story. I had wanted a commander for a long time and finally purchased mine in 2017. We put 30 hours on it that summer even though it was very tired in every way possibile. Since then its bottom and bilge have been extensivily repaired & reglassed. It got a pair of brand new EFI 496's , new gas tanks, new cockpit floor framing, insulation, trim tabs, new steering, new helm station panels, restroed gauges; striped & refinished a bunch of mahogany, lots of gel coat repairs, insane amount of compounding on the top sides to maintain the mostly orig factory finish, new gel coat boot stripe, new props & shafts, all new thru hulls, new fire supression system, custom cockpit side wall hatches to allow much improved access to service the outboard sides of the engines, lots of new chrome and polished stainless, and much more! Still lots left to do but I very much look foward to eventually getting to use it.
I try to be fairily active on the forum to try and help out fellow members with the issues that come up on your boats. I enjoy using what Ive learned to help others to solve boat problems.
I look foward to meeting more of you and of course the opertunity to go wear out my new engines!
Posted in error in another discussion. Moved here.
Whitney Pillsbury
3d
@Jon Welge Idaho? Tell us about boating in Idaho, I'm not sure I'm familiar with Lake Pend Oreille. 🤷🏼♂️
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Jon Welge
13h
Sure Whitney! The primary lakes of the Idaho Panhandle include Lake Pend Oreille, Priest Lake, and Lake Coeur d'Alene. Idaho also has numerous rivers. BUT, those three northern lakes, plus Lake Roosevelt nearby in eastern Washington State and Flathead Lake nearby in western Montana, are among the most beautiful in all the world. They're very large freshwater lakes! They're far from Great Lakes sized, but some are comperable with St. Clair (for example) in length of shoreline. Check out the depth of Lake Pend Oreille -- it's the 5th deepest lake in the US. That's where we're at. The water is crystal clear 10 feet down and super high quality. I understand many water purveyors depend upon lake water (with minimal conditioning) for drinking water. The boating season is only from mid-April through mid-September, but the air temperature can get hot, over 100, and the water temperatures can exceed 75F. I try and throw up some pics later :)
Thank you Charlene!!! Not sure what happened there, but looks like it's been sorted out. Here is a photo looking south near the Clark Fork Delta on Lake Pend Oreille. This place is darned magical for me. The water quality here is almost drinkable. This lake is 1,150 feet deep and is still used to develop Navy subs.
Well.... My Name is Lee. I live in the thriving little town of Mooresville, NC outside Charlotte on Lake Norman. My wife is Ruth, and my dog is Charlie. He is a rescue from Kuwait. I own and operate Glassic Boatworks for my love of Classic Glass. It is 25 years old this year. I started with the club at its' beginning in 1999. Owning a 27 express which I bought as a project before I even knew what a Commander was. I had to yahoo search (Google wasn't invented yet) Chris Craft Commander and found this little egroups site, (which became Yahoogroups, then Ning, and now Wix.) It only had a few members. (about 15 as I recall.) but I have been with the club ever since. My 27 "Labors Love" went to Davy Jones' locker 2 years ago at the hands of a muskrat who fell in the engine room and picked the wrong hose to attempt a getaway. (Keep the screens in your airvents maintained folks) Today, I now own a 23 Lancer we bought last year that is getting a new engine to be used primarily on our Lake. I've seen this club at it's youngest, and at all points of success. It makes my heart happy. I have been an archivist, and a Chief Commander for 2 terms. This year I am your treasurer for another 2 yr term. The pay sucks but the rewards are great. Great to see y'all!
I've been around this club since we purchased our 1969 Commander 47 in late 2016. We started with good engines, and a sound hull and have been working on it since. We gutted the old interior and built something we love to share with friends and family. Here are some pictures, and if you really want to read more - we were in the Spring 2018 'Styled in Fiberglass'.
As purchased:
Tear out
How she looks now 😀
I'm starting to enjoy the new website more every day. Good job putting it together. I have been a Chris Craft owner from the 70's. Starting with a 35' 1957 sea skiff then a 1973 28' CoHo from there to a 1967 22' Cutlass (My Favorite)
and now a 1986 315 Commander.
I am Alarik von Hofsten, one of the club's overseas members, and proud owner of a 31' Commander Express. I live and do my boating in Sweden, close to Stockholm. I served as Club webmaster and member of the Executive Committee 2005-2017. When I retired as Webmaster Dick Morland and EC - members wrote this very nice account of my Commander life.
Well, let's just say I'm no longer a Commander owner, but still love and appreciate them from afar. This club remains near and dear to my heart, and its members are incredibly special folks. Glad to see a "2.0" version to the website and forum, and I look forward to enjoying Commanders vicariously through those that do own these classics.